I love reading home decorating magazines. Always have. Choosing to become a writer makes both owning a house and having enough money to decorate it much less likely than almost any other career. A girl can dream, though.

Still, it's the almost endless possibilities that fascinate me, the thoughts of what could be, the perfection of those houses.

Fillyjonk over at Shapely Prose has some thoughts about how we think about our bodies in the same way:

I don’t find this attitude particularly troubling, because it’s true — I really am in this house temporarily, and it’s worthwhile to think about the eventual move and plan around it. But I think a lot of people treat their bodies the same way, and that is a problem. It’s part of the Fantasy of Being Thin: “I may be fat now, but when I get my real body, then my life will begin. Then I’ll exercise and dance and dress beautifully and buy myself that fancy shampoo I like.” When I was younger, I even used to fantasize that I’d get sick and lose a bunch of weight, because I couldn’t imagine any other way to transition between my temporary body and my real one. I thought I could get a clean slate if I dropped catastrophic amounts instantly — and after that I’d have do-overs, and I could do things right this time. Meanwhile it didn’t matter what I did. I was just here to go.

But if you’re just marking time in your body until your new, perfect one comes along, through luck or dieting or illness or whatever, then you’re going to be terrifically disappointed — and worse, your metaphorical house is going to be a mess. You may think, “I’ll get those storage bins and put things in order when I make it to the new place.” You may think, “I’ll ditch this furniture and buy new beautiful stuff after the move.” You may not see the point in fixing the dripping faucet or the creaky stairs, or getting regular checks for termites and radon, or grounding the electrical system; surely none of that will matter when you move into your real, permanent home.

Of course you can’t actually break the lease. At some point you need to get over it, take your stuff out of boxes, and hang some art on the walls, because you’re not going anywhere. The metaphor’s getting strained, but here’s my point: You live in this body for good, so don’t treat it like a squat. Maybe it’s not your dream home, but it’s your home, and that will count for more the more love and effort you put into it. The environment you make there is the environment you’ll have to live in, so give it the care it needs and deck it out in your personal style.

ED Bites on Facebook!

ED Bites is on Twitter!

Search ED Bites

I'm on Wellsphere!

About Me

I'm a science writer, a jewelry design artist, a bookworm, a complete geek, and mom to a wonderful kitty. I am also recovering from a decade-plus battle with anorexia nervosa. I believe that complete recovery is possible, and that the first step along that path is full nutrition.